With a second-round 66 today, Michael Allen has put himself into position to be the 23rd player to win the Senior PGA Championship in his debut. Denis Watson, in 2007, was the most recent player to do so.

Allen is also shooting to become just the 14th player to capture his first event on the Champions Tour. Furthermore, Arnold Palmer won the 1980 Senior PGA Championship, and remains the only player to capture the Senior PGA Championship in his debut on the Champions Tour.

Eagles Are Soaring

Kiyoshi Murato of Japan and PGA Club Professional Jim Woodward recorded the first eagles of the 70th Senior PGA Championship in the morning round. Both eagles came at the par-5 15th hole. Bernhard Langer also eagled this hole in the afternoon round.

O’Meara and Cook, Day Two

After playing poorly in the opening round while paired together, 1979 U.S. Amateur finalists Mark O’Meara and John Cook improved in the second round. O’Meara, the U.S. Amateur Champion at Canterbury 30 years ago, shot even-par 70 today and is at 6-over-par 146. Cook finished the day one stroke better with a 69 for a 4-stroke lead over his playing partner for the Championship.

Ruining His Round

Greg Norman was coasting along today, 2-under par for the round until his game unraveled at the par-5 16th hole. From the rough, Norman pitched his third shot over the green, into a wooded area and out of bounds. Norman then dropped from the same spot where he had previously hit, pitched the ball on the green and three-putted for triple-bogey 8.

Norman then bogeyed the 17th hole and finished with 72 for the round and a 5-over par total. He will make the 36-hole cut.

Another View of Jacobs’ 70

Since 1992, when such statistics began to be kept, no player in the Senior PGA Championship had parred all 18 holes in a round until John Jacobs did so in the first round yesterday at Canterbury.

Roller-Coaster Back Nine

Keith Fergus parred Nos. 10 and 18, but in between Fergus had four birdies and three bogeys on his closing nine today. Fergus shot 69 and is 2-over par after 36 holes. Chris Starkjohann also rode the roller coaster but without so many hills. Chris parred 10 and 18, and inbetween recorded 5 birdies and 2 bogies.

There are currently 11 Masters Champions competing on the Champions Tour, with a collective 16 Masters victories. To put this into prospective, the PGA Tour has only eight Masters Champions, with a collective 13 Masters victories.

Each of the following golf legends, and potential Senior PGA Championship contenders, will attempt to add another green jacket to their already historic careers when the 2009 Masters Tournament tees off at August National on April 9.

Gary Player (1961, 1974, 1978)

Raymond Floyd (1976)

Tom Watson (1977, 1981)

Fuzzy Zoeller (1979)

Craig Stadler (1982)

Ben Crenshaw (1984, 1995)

Bernhard Langer (1985, 1993)

Larry Mize (1987)

Sandy Lyle (1988)

Ian Woosnam (1991)

Mark O’Meara (1998)

A word of warning to all PGA Tour golfers … these guys can still play! Last week at the Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic, Mark O’Meara (T-2), Bernhard Langer (T-6) and Craig Stadler (T-15) finished a combined 26 under par.

Visit www.pga.com for special coverage of the Masters and all things golf.

The 2009 Senior PGA Championship would like to congratulate Bernhard Langer for his winning performance this past weekend at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. He kicked off his sophomore season on the Champions Tour by shooting 18-under over the three-day tournament, edging out Andy Bean by one stroke and defending Senior PGA Champion, Jay Haas, by three strokes. Click here for the full article.

Langer could be the one to watch this May at Canterbury Golf Club. Last year, at the 2008 Senior PGA Championship, he finished second to Jay Haas by only 1 stroke, and finished in the top 10 in 14 of the 20 Champions Tour events he competed in, winning three of them.

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70th Senior PGA Championship

Blog Overview

The 70th SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP BLOG was created to give you behind-the-scenes access to Cleveland's first Major Golf Championship in more than 10 years.

Readers will be some of the first to view breaking news about the Championship, including player commitments, clubhouse and course preparation updates, special opportunities to get involved and Championship scores and highlights.